Credential production devices process credential substrates to form credentials, such as, for example, identification cards, driver's licenses, passports, and other valuable documents. The credential substrates that are used to form such credentials include, for example, paper substrates, plastic substrates, semi-rigid or rigid plastic cards, and other materials. Exemplary processes performed on the credential substrates by credential production devices to produce the credential include printing an image on the substrate, writing data to the substrate, applying an overlaminate material to the substrate and other processes.
Credential laminators are generally configured to apply an overlaminate material to one or more surfaces of credential substrates to protect the surfaces from abrasion and environmental conditions. The lamination operation performed by credential laminators utilizes a laminating roller to apply heat and pressure to the overlaminate material that overlays the surface of the substrate and bonds the overlaminate material to the surface.
One type of overlaminate material is in the form of an overlaminate patch that includes a layer of adhesive on a protective material, such as polyester. The adhesive layer of the patch is used to adhere the patch to a surface of the substrate during the lamination process.
It is desirable to have the overlaminate patch precisely conform to the surface of the credential substrate in order to provide full edge-to-edge protection to the surface. Unfortunately, due to inaccuracies in the laminating process, variances in the overlaminate ribbon and other factors, the overlaminate patch must be made slightly smaller than the surface of the substrate to ensure that the patch can be aligned with the substrate without overhanging the substrate's edges. There is a continuous effort to minimize the size difference between the patch and the substrate in order to get closer to the desired full edge-to-edge surface protection.